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Paul C�zanne: Two Sketchbooks

Of Cézanne's seven copies of Coustou's portrait bust of the Oratorian father Darerès de La Tour in the Louvre (see Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1987-53-40a), only this and one other (Chappuis, Adrien. The Drawings of Paul Cézanne. 2 vols. Greenwich, Conn., 1973, no. 1117) show a strict frontal view that seems to reinforce the severity of its expression. In the present copy, the oblique illumination casts shadows across one side of the face and around the deeply recessed and vaguely defined eyes, adding to its own note of mystery and pathos, even evoking thoughts of blindness. The unusual placement of the head, high on the otherwise empty page, increases the sense of isolation and inwardness. Theodore Reff, from Paul Cézanne: Two Sketchbooks (1989), p. 156.